All Forum Posts by: Sheri Ulm

@K. Marie Poe  You're welcome. I'd do another one like this in a heartbeat.

@K. Marie Poe  Yes it was a land contract. The deed is signed and being held by title company but will not be recorded until all my payments are made. The land contract itself was recorded. This is a $5k house that I put $1500 into repairs so figute $6500. I had it rented out before the deal even closed and with what I am making in rent it will have paid for itself in less then 18 months. I put $1k down and the seller is financing 4k at 3% for 3 years. My payments are $150/month including taxes and insurance and I make the payments out of the rent. In about 3 months from now I will have broken even on what I have into it ($2500). And my tenants pay on time and love the place so I'm not real concerned about not having the deed at this point. Even if I made all the payments and the deed never transferred to me (not likely but always a possibility) I will still have made $ on the deal so I'm happy.

I closed on a house about 6 weeks ago that was bought on land contract on Ohio. I'm the buyer and we used a title company and the contract was recorded at closing. This was an investment property for me so Dodd-Frank didn't come into play.

@Jon Holdman @Marcia Maynard 

Thanks again to both of you. I will be consulting with the tenant law people and an attorney if the items are not removed by Friday. I don't know  a lot about the Crisis Center other then they help people who have problems by distributing checks to pay their bills out of whatever income they have (employment, SSI, etc) every month. The way it is set up they have authority to act on behalf of their client on financial matters and issues regarding living arrangements. The property is vacant. Tenant 1 left after he was told he would have to pay the full rent once she was gone or get an approved roommate. He wanted to stay but couldn't afford the place on his own so he quit the program and just disappeared. Tenant 2 has moved and is renting an apartment. The case worker verified this as she is the one who sent the deposit check and Dec rent to the new landlord so I know the home is empty. Also, the neighbors stated there has been no one there in about 2 weeks and they saw both tenants moving out. All attempts to contact both tenants at the home have resulted in no one being there and the phone number is disconnected. Also, the tenant contacted the gas and water companies to have the services shut off and removed from their names.

Sorta related story:

Years ago I rented a house here in CA that came with a very old refrigerator... I'm talking 1950 style and this was the 90's. About 6 months into my tenancy the fridge broke down and I called the rental agency. They told me just buy a new fridge and dispose of the old one but I told them they needed to remove the old one as it was going to cost me to have the city pick it up or take it to the dump. I told them it would be in the garage and they said OK. They never came to get it so when I moved out several months later I just left it in the garage. Nothing else was left and I cleaned the house spotless before I moved. I was also told to drop the keys in the mail slot of their office since they were not open on weekends and I was moving over 60 miles away. I did as told puttring the keys in an envelopre with the property address and my name etc written on the outside and on a note inside with the key. Well, guess what...a few weeks later I got my deposit refund check... Minus a dump fee for the fridge "I left behind" and a rekeying fee because they claimed they never got the keys back.

@Marcia Maynard 

 I like your idea about delivering the items to her and getting pictures. I'm pretty sure the case worker would be willing to go along for the drop off and sign off that the items were delivered. It's mostly just bags of baby clothes and some odds and ends, nothing major other then a couch with some missing cushions that I'm sure she just left behind cuz it's trash. This just might be the solution I was looking for. Thanks again!!

@Marcia Maynard The notice to terminate wasn't signed by either tenant.. I received it from the case worker.  Also, I don't know that the tenant would be willing to sign anything as she is being uncooperative with the case worker etc...

I was referring to my property not being a free storage facility... I'm not worried about paying for a few months storage if that's the case. That's what Is planning on doing but the case worker told me not to put the stuff in storage... Although if she doesn't get it out by Friday I may do that anyway depending on what the tenant law states in that regard. And I do plan on deducting everything legally possible from the security deposit which at this point is looking like all of it.

And yes this could be much worse... I'm just glad the tenants are out but I still need to deal with getting the remaining belongings out legally if she doesn't.  When I bought my personal residence many years ago we closed escrow and I was to receive possesion at COE so I show up the next day to start cleaning the place up, get ready to install new carpet etc and the sellers were still there packing boxes with some sob story on how they couldn't move out yet. Now mind you I had given them $200 thru escrow to pay for a storage facility so as not to delay the closing so I ended up helping them load my truck and trailer with their belongings and driving them to the storage place so they could get out by the end of the day. Took several trips but after that they left peacefully.

Thanks for the responses.

@Jon Holdman Yes it is one lease with two people on it and it has the clause you mentioned. I guess I was in the Christmas spirit as I was willing to let her stay till the 18th since I received her half of the rent. I do have a one month security deposit (each tenant paid half) that will cover the lost rent provided no other damage has been done to the property. I plan to contact the landlord/tenant agency and possibly an attorney but wanted to get some insight here first. I'm hiring she gets it all out by Friday but not holding my breath.

Welcome to the site Joe! There is a lot of Good information and helpful people here. I invest in buy and holds in YT and the surrounding areas.

Hello. I have a rental in Ohio that 2 tenants were splitting the rent on. One of the tenants possibly has some mental issues. Both tenants were using a Help Crisis Center to pay their bills and my rent checks were coming directly from this center. On Nov 18th I was given a 30 day notice that they were moving. Prior to Dec 1 tenant #1 left the crisis center program so I did not receive any rent for his half for Dec. He has since moved out. I  did receive tenant #2 rent but this only amounted to half the rent due under the lease. Tenant #2 moved out about 10 days ago. However, this tenant left personal belongings (mostly bags of baby clothes) in the house. I have been speaking with her case worker at the crisis center and she has been trying to get her to go get the remaining items but the tenant is being uncooperative and has refused. The case worker told her if it's not out by Jan 1 she will have to pay another months rent but she don't seem to care and I really don't think the crisis center will really send me another months rent and even if they did it would only be for her half. I think this is more of a scare tactic on the case workers part to try to get the tenant to cooperate. I offered to move the items to a storage facility and was told the tenant cannot afford that and not to do it (per case worker). As of today the case worker is going to continue to talk with the tenant and attempt to get her to remove the rest of the items by Friday and is telling her that if she doesn't the items will be discarded. This was the case workers idea and she has told me that if the items are not removed by Friday to go ahead and get rid of them and secure the house. So..... Is it OK for me to just get rid of these items if they are not removed by Friday per the case workers telling me to? Would I need something in writing from the case worker and/or the tenant? I don't want the tenant to come back later and claim I just got rid of her stuff but I also am not running a free storage facility and obviously cannot clean and rerent the house until her stuff is gone so this is costing me money. Since she has moved and left the items behind can I get rid of them based on her leaving/abandoning them? Any help is appreciated... Thank you!

@Raymond B. 

Thanks for the tip. I was having an issue with doing this from my phone but it appears to be working now.